The large gasholders, which are often a source of wonder to youthful
minds as they rise and fall, are the places in which gas is stored for
the use of our cities.
By day, when they are generally receiving more gas than they are
giving out, they rise; and again at night, when less is being pumped
into them than is going out for consumption in the streets and houses,
they fall. The gasholder is placed in a tank of water, so that there
is no waste of gas as the huge iron holder fills or empties.
Now it was in one of these gasholders that a few years ago two men did
a deed that will live. Here is the brief story.
The holder was being repaired, the gas had been removed, and air had
been pumped into it instead of gas so that men could work inside, and
the holder had risen about fifty feet. Two men were working inside the
holder, one a foreman, and the other a labourer named Case, the latter
in a diver's helmet. They were standing on a plank floating on the
water. Fresh air was being pumped down to Case, who, so long as he
kept on the helmet, was perfectly safe.
All at once the foreman found he was beginning to feel faint, so he
told the labourer they would go up to the top for fresh air. But he
had not the strength to carry out his purpose. The raft was pulled to
the ladder by which they were to get out; but he was unable to ascend,
and fell down in a fainting condition.
Then the labourer, regardless of the danger he was running, unscrewed
his helmet, into which fresh air was being pumped, and, placing it
quite near his fallen comrade, enabled him to get some of the air. The
foreman tried in vain to get Case to put on the helmet; and his own
strength was too slight to force him to do so. Indeed, he was in such
a state of weakness that he fell on the raft, and knew no more till he
once again found himself in a place of safety.
Now let us see how the foreman's rescue was effected, and at what
cost. The men at the top of the holder had by this time become aware
that something was wrong below; and two men, Chew and Smith by name,
at once volunteered to go down below. They reached the plank, got a
rope round the foreman's body, when they too began to feel the effects
of the gas, and ascended the ladder, whilst the foreman was being
hoisted up by means of the rope. Smith reached the top in a fainting
condition. Chew never arrived there at all; for just as he got within
a few feet of safety he became insensible, and fell down into the
water below and was drowned. Meantime, Case had become jammed in
between the plank and one of the stays; and so, when at length they
removed him, life had passed away.
Such deeds are so often done by our working men that they think
nothing about it. They do not know that they are heroes--that's the
best of it! It is a fact to be thankful for that everywhere throughout
the land, beneath the rough jackets of our artisans and labourers,
beat hearts as true and fearless as those which have stormed the fort
or braved the dangers of the battlefield.